Iraqis banned from competition! A conspiracy?

Just read a teeny, tiny, one-sentence announcement: Five Iraqi athletes have been banned from Olympics competition.

Shades of Nazi Germany! How can this happen? These are athletes, just like ours, who have worked long and hard for the chance to compete, who were extremely excited at having been invited and have now had their hopes cruelly dashed!

Was this at our request, by any chance? Are we afraid of another Iraqi athlete reaching the podium and demanding that we get the hell out of his country?